Discipline
by Killing Reality
Summary: Yahiko walks in on a bad situation that gets worse as Kenshin is required to discipline his son Kenji after he has said the worst possible thing to him and Kauru. Just to note that the characters are a bit OOC, and Kenji is not based of the OVA - Also ONE-SHOT


_**So this Idea just sort of sprung itself on me, It turned out much longer than intended but, oh well :D Anyways I hope you enjoy, please leave a review **___

**Discipline**

"Hey guys!" Came a cheerful voice from the dojo entrance, the owner was a young man, with dark spikey hair, a black gi kimono with decorated edges and a dark grey Hakama, rested on his left hip was the Sakabatou that had been kindly given to him ten years previously.

Getting no response he walked through the open courtyard and to the training dojo and entered into a tense atmosphere, stood on opposite sides of the room was Kenshin and Kenji, he could never get over how alike the two looked, Kenshin had once again grown out his red hair once his son Kenji had grown out of pulling it, but he no longer tied it up and let it fall down his back, Kenji too had grown his own hair out, his was not as red as his predecessors but still noticeable and his was tied high, his stature was the same as well as his face, only his eyes were the same as his mothers' which were a light blue.

"Yahiko. Good timing." Said Kenshin. Yahiko was taken aback, Kenshin's voice was deep and dark with barely contained anger which he hadn't heard for years. "May I borrow the Sakabatou?" He continued without taking his fierce gaze off his son. Kenji was staring back at his father, his own gaze held fear but he was glaring stubbornly.

"Kenshin?" Yahiko asked but Kenshin just held out his hand towards him waiting for his old sword. Not sure what to do Yahiko looked towards Kaoru, her own expression took him by surprise, she was casting glances at her son which held disgust and shock and anger of her own. She caught Yahiko staring questioningly at her and gave a nod for him to pass the sword to its previous owner.

"Yahiko." Came Kenshins voice once more his anger rippling out slightly with his impatience. Yahiko swallowed before slowly removing the Sakabatou from his side and placing it in Kenshins waiting hand. He cast a glance to Kenji whose fear was starting to grow and he walked over to Kaoru while Kenshin moved closer to the centre of the dojo.

"Get yourself a Shinai. Kenji." Kenshin said darkly, biting off his son's name as if it was something rotten all while still glaring fiercely at him.

"What happened?" Yahiko asked Kaoru quietly while Kenji nervously walked over to the Shinai rack, his every move being watched by his father.

"I'll tell you after this." She said, her own voice holding anger and disgust, something he didn't expect to hear coming from his old teacher, he looked at her questioningly for a moment but she had her eyes set on what was happening, knowing he wouldn't get a response he turned his own gaze towards Kenshin and Kenji.

Kenji had picked a Shinai and held it ready in front of him, Kenshin had remained where he was, his gaze full of anger which Yahiko could feel throughout the whole dojo, he was certain that Kenji and Kaoru where feeling it too as he saw Kenji try to repress a shiver.

"I've not seen Kenshin like this since…. Well since that time with Enishi." Yahiko said as he was looking at the one person who was like a father to him, had bestowed him with the Sakabatou ten years ago out of love. It unnerved him to see him return to his old self, when he had been fighting countless battles to protect Kaoru and him, and the others. In fact he realised that Kenshins dark mood had surpassed that instinct and he was glimpsing at an echo of the former Hitokiri he once was, and could not think of one reason why he would be directing this much anger at his own flesh and blood, and that Kaoru was as equally angry and disgusted baffled him even more.

Before he had time to continue with his thoughts Kenshin lowered himself into an all too familiar stance and Yahiko's eyes widened but kept silent and turned his gaze towards Kenji, who had at least heard of this stance. The teenagers fear had definitely gotten to him, the Shinai he was holding was shaking and his gaze held no stubbornness anymore, just terror, and Yahiko could tell he was holding onto what little pride he had left to not run from his father.

Kenshin had lowered further in this time, no longer locking his gaze with his son, his hair draping down his shoulder and his bangs covering most of his face, Kenji just remained frozen.

"Come at me. Kenji." Kenshin spat, his right hand hovering by the hilt of the Sakabatou.

In the next instant Kenji moved, Yahiko wasn't sure if it was out of pride, fear or just plain stupidity that he ran in a sprint towards his father. Yahiko could tell the outcome before it happened, before Kenji knew, or Kaoru, he had seen the move that often. The form Kenji had was completely off, probably because of the fear, his movement was reckless and desperate, which were bad combinations, he lifted the Shinai above his head to swing down onto his fathers which was positioned lower. But before he could move his arms downwards he had gone flying back to the other side of the dojo. Kenshin had drawn the Sakabatou in a flash, quicker than Yahiko had been able to see and struck his son in the torso, judging from how Kenji has hacking and throwing up on the floor Kenshin had struck his stomach. Hard. Yahiko was certain he so Kenji spit blood after he finished coughing.

Kenshin sheathed the Sakabatou and walked up to Kaoru and Yahiko.

"Thank you, Yahiko." He said but his tone was still dark and his eyes fierce. Without another word he handed the sword back to him before walking out of the dojo. Yahiko watched as he left silently before turning his gaze to Kenji who had just recovered to a seating position, tears welling in the corner of his eyes.

"I'm sorry." He said in a sob "I'm so sorry, mother….please, forgive me. Mother,…..f-father…..Please forgive me. I'm sorry….I'm sorry…..I'm sorry" The teenager kept repeating over and over. Kaoru watched him for a long moment but didn't say anything to him, instead she looked to Yahiko and gave him a hint of a smile.

"Come on, I shall make you some tea." She said before she walked out of the dojo and towards the kitchen. Yahiko looked towards Kenji who was still continuing his apologies and followed his old teacher.

"So what happened?" Yahiko asked when Kaoru had finished making the tea. They were alone, Kaoru had told him that Kenshin took to his room and would probably stay there until he calmed down, and Kenji of course remained in the dojo. While making the tea Kaoru had calmed down a lot and wasn't as angry anymore when she responded to the question.

"It's quite long winded, it sort of started a few days ago and seemed to have escalated. I kind of saw it happening but I didn't even think." Kaoru stopped for a moment before shaking her head to get rid of the onset of anger before sighing.

"The three of us were out in town getting a few things in for food and Kenji remarked on my cooking, which is something that I'm used to because of you and Kenshin himself back in the day, and at the time we all found it funny and we decided to let Kenshin cook for that day. While we were having the meal Kenji decided to ask why Kenshin had married me. So of course Kenshin told him seriously and that was it, nothing unusual at all." She paused to take a sip of her tea, realising he hadn't touched his own he had a sip himself before she continued. "So the next day was pretty normal too, we already had some food in so we didn't go out again and Kenshin was trying to get Kenji to help with the chores. But Kenji seemed to be against this for some reason, I only caught some of the conversation but it was along the lines of 'Why are you even doing chores like this? You used to be a great swordsman, you shouldn't keep doing everything _she_ says' Kenshin obviously didn't like the way Kenji was speaking and warned him about it, Kenji then just went out and didn't come back until dinner, the silence then was uncomfortable but I didn't tell Kenshin that I had overheard what had been said. Then Kenji commented on my cooking again, I blew it off as a joke but because of what had been said earlier Kenshin warned him again. I tried to diffuse the tension but Kenshin wasn't having any of it. Then today…" Kaoru was silent for a long moment, just absently staring into her teacup. Yahiko just waiting, knowing that she would tell him when she had processed everything. "Obviously once he was old enough we had told him everything, about Kenshin, what we had all been through, he has known since two years ago when he was thirteen. We had assumed that he had accepted everything and didn't have a problem with it. But now." Kaoru broke off again and Yahiko noticed a tear escaped before she swiftly wiped it away.

"What did he say?" Yahiko asked, his voice already holding surprise knowing that it must have been something terrible to make his old master shed tears.

_Before Yahiko had arrived at the dojo_

"Kenji, I will tell you one last time. If you insult your mother again like this I will punish you."

The three of them were in the dojo, Kenji was getting ready for his usual kata practice when he had once again commented about his mother.

"Why should I have an old woman teaching me sword skills anyway? What good can she do?" He had said to incite his father's anger. After the warning he was staring stubbornly at Kenshin.

"What's the problem? Father?" He had continued in a mocking tone "Don't you think so too? She hasn't been able to get any students for years, Yahiko's taken over. Don't you know that already?" Kenji was going through his Kata movements has he was talking, unaware of the growing anger rising inside Kenshin. Oblivious he carried on. "In fact, I think she's so useless that maybe she should have really been dead that time instead of the body being fake, and maybe you would have been better off. But you're pretty useless too so maybe staying in that homeless village would have been a better end for you."

"Kenji!" Kaoru had said in shock. Calling her sons attention, he stopped his kata and smirked towards his mother and passed his gaze to his father, he instantly dropped his Shinai and it rolled away from him slightly.

Kenshin was still, and glaring, his usual soft violet eyes, normally shining had turned to a cold hard fearsome yellow, something which Kaoru had seen before, but Kenji had never witnessed the cold stare and had only heard about it from Yahiko and Kaoru, and being the focus of the glare had made him realise how wrong he was to provoke his father. The stories he had heard were all coming back to him, the scars Sano had shown him from their first meeting, Yahiko telling him all the enemies he had faced and overcome. Kenji didn't believe all of them at the time, but seeing his father's fearsome glare before him now had him believing every word.

_Back with Yahiko and Kaoru_

"That was when you walked in, your timing could not have been more perfect, but at the same time terrible. But if you hadn't walked in Kenshin would have probably picked up a Bokken. And would have used that."

"A Bokken? Not a Shinai?" Kaoru just shook her head in response.

"You should already know that a Bokken has more weight. Kenji had said the worst possible thing to his own father, Kenshin can probably take insults to himself all day, it is his nature, he doesn't like it but he feels that some are true, but with me, well I suppose I'm flattered by it, but he doesn't like it. The cooking is the exception I suppose, but that's because we all know it's terrible. But to think he feels that way towards us. I don't know what we have done to make him say that. I feel bad and angry for what he said about Kenshin, and I'm shocked about what he said about me. I can only imagine that Kenshin is feeling much worse and he turned it all into anger in an instant. I mean I'm angry at Kenji but I've calmed down… I'm still very upset and I will probably find a way to punish him myself, but Kenshin." At this point Kaoru could no longer hold back her tears, not knowing anything else to do Yahiko moved closer to her and gently rubbed her shoulder. "I'm sorry Yahiko, I'm just so confused. I don't know what to do."

"I'll go talk to him, find out what's going on. You're right there needs to be a reason for this behaviour and I'll find out what it is." Unable to speak because of the tears Kaoru just nodded. Yahiko stood and walked out of the room, instead of heading straight to the dojo he walked to Kenshins room. He could still feel the anger palpitating from the other side of the shoji door.

"Err, Kenshin?" He called a little nervously, the only response he had got was a slight lessening of the radiating anger. "Ahh, can I come in for a moment?" There was a bit of a silence that passed before Kenshin eventually responded.

"Yes."

Yahiko entered the room before he lost his nerve, Kenshin was leant against the far wall sat down. He had his head down and seemed to be deep in thought. Yahiko got as close and he dared and sat down himself, they both sat in silence for a moment before Yahiko spoke up, eliminating the nerves from his voice.

"Kaoru told me what had happened." He started, his response was a nod. "I wanted to tell you that I'm not against what you did. But do you have any idea as to why he would say something like that?"

"No."

"I see, I thought I'd ask. I told Kaoru I'm going to try and talk to him, see if I can find out what's going on."

"I want you to be stern with him." Kenshin said suddenly, as if already knowing that Yahiko was going to talk to Kenji. "He needs to know that he is to never, ever speak about his mother like that again. Ever. You understand?" Kenshin's voice was trembling with anger, his hands turning into fists as he was speaking. Yahiko nodded before he stood and went to leave the room.

"By the way, Kaoru was crying when I left her, maybe you should see her?" He said before walking out of the room and headed towards the dojo, not knowing if Kenshin took his advice or not.

As he entered the dojo he saw Kenji still in the same corner, he looked as if he hadn't moved but he noticed that he area where he had thrown up had been cleaned. When Kenji heard the door slide open he looked up fearfully, obviously wondering if his father had returned to punish him further, when he saw that it was Yahiko he looked relieved but still didn't move. Yahiko was taking Kenshin's advice though and kept a stern expression on his face as he walked towards the teenager.

"You sure messed up didn't you?" He asked in a harsh tone as he approached Kenji. "I've been told everything, and to be honest I think your father went easy on you. I don't even think that you have any idea how much you have hurt both your mother and your father, and to be honest, you're lucky you are Kenshin's flesh and blood, because if this was me, I'd still be on the floor throwing up, that's if I could even move. But the real issue here, is why the hell did you say something so cruel to them in the first place?"

"I-I, just feel that I'm not wanted by them, they don't tell me anything, they don't listen to me anymore, or talk to me as often as they used to. I feel like I'm always doing wrong by them and that they don't care for me anymore."

Yahiko was stunned for a moment and realised what Kenji had been feeling. Feeling unwanted for so long turns into hate which builds up and then gets released all at once. He had just said the wrong things and was paying the price for it.

"I think I understand where you are coming from Kenji" Yahiko said softly. "But you've gone about this the wrong way, now I can't judge whether or not they have been treating you like this or not because I'm not here all the time, but I do know this for a fact, they love you, always have and always will. You are fifteen Kenji, you are a young man now, you can't keep expecting to be coddled all the time and that is probably what they are doing, trying to make you independent. They are helping you in the only that they know how, because it is what they have grown up with, sure they had me to look after, but in times that kept them fighting, they are in peace now and they are not used to it, they have been expecting danger most of their lives and they suddenly ended up with no battles and a kid to raise. They are strong and they want you to be strong too, they care for you more than you can imagine and I know it's difficult to try and understand it, but it's just how they are, and you just need to get used to it."

Kenji looked deep in thought for a long moment, piecing together what Yahiko had said and realising that he had been wrong and needed to sort things out.

"Thank you Yahiko." He said after a long moment. "You really are like an older brother to me. And you're right, I need to talk to them and apologise and understand them better." He said as he got up and started to walk towards the door to where his parents would be.

"Err, Kenji." Yahiko called before the teen got to the door.

"Yes?"

"Don't go to them now." He said seriously and Kenji looked down at the floor for a moment before he nodded in understanding and moved back towards Yahiko and sat back down.

"Of course, I should have realised that father is still angry at me. I've never seen him like that before." Kenji said, an involuntary shiver ran through him as he must have remembered the glare he was subjected to.

"To be honest neither have I, I don't think he's ever been that angry before, apart from maybe with Jin-Hei, but that was a long time ago and when you're mother was in serious danger. But I wasn't there to witness it."

"I see." Kenji said solemnly, not sure how to face his father, Yahiko noticed the teen looking dejected and tried to cheer him up.

"Ahh, you shouldn't worry too much though, Kenshin isn't the type to be too angry for long. Plus you are his son and once you apologise and explain everything he'll be okay. It's just that right now he is trying to collect his own thoughts, he's probably trying to figure out what had made you say such things, and with any luck consoling your mother." Kenji looked up confused at that and Yahiko sighed before explaining "When she told me what had happened she started crying, You've basically told them that you'd rather they be dead, and also denying your own life in the process. You have hurt them in ways you won't understand until you are older I'm afraid. But your father will come to you for an explanation once he is ready." Kenji just nodded, his own tears welling up once more at the realisation of what he had done. "Hey, don't be crying now, you are a man remember." Kenji nodded and quickly swiped his tears away and waited with Yahiko in silence.

After a while they both heard footsteps moving along the outside of the dojo, Kenji froze while Yahiko followed the silhouette, without needing even a second he realised that it was Kenshin, he rested a warm hand on Kenji's shoulder before he rose and walked to the side of the dojo and out of the way as Kenshin entered. His anger had almost completely faded, Yahiko could still sense it slightly but it had calmed down a lot, his eyes were no longer a cold yellow but had returned to their violet hue but he still held them in a stern gaze and rested them on his son. He flicked them to Yahiko for a moment before looking back to Kenji, Yahiko took the hint straight away and left the dojo, casting one last concerned glance to Kenji before he left the room and headed back to where Kaoru was in the kitchen.

Once Yahiko had left, Kenji immediately positioned himself into the lowest bow his body could form, and directed it towards his father.

"I am so, so sorry father. I understand that what I have said today can never be forgiven, I had said the harsh words out of anger that I did not understand and I swear I do not mean them, I know that it sounds like an excuse but I whole heartedly mean it, I will never disrespect mother or you ever again, I will willingly accept any punishment for the rest of my days if need be. Please, father. I'm so sorry." Kenji said through sobs, immediately forgetting Yahiko's advice to not cry, but not caring anymore and staying in the bowed position. He heard his father walk towards him but did not look up, instead put his head lower and braced himself for another hit, but one never came. Instead Kenshin rested a hand on his shoulder, just had Yahiko had done before he left.

"Sit up Kenji." He said, his voice was back to its usual tone but the kindness that was usually there was gone, as Kenji looked to his father he noticed that his eyes had softened slightly and he knew he would be able to get through to him. "Explain to me why you said those things Kenji, I've been thinking it over for a while now and no answer comes to me."

Kenji hesitated for a moment before he talked about his conversation with Yahiko, he explained why he had been angry and how he realised now how stupid and ignorant he had been, and Kenshin just sat and listened, with an open mind and an open heart.

"I just didn't know what to do. It was like you were both leaving me, I was scared and a bit lonely, then I felt like you didn't care, didn't try and understand then I just got more and more angry, until… until… I really am sorry father." Kenji said through tears once more.

"I suppose I need to apologise too, Yahiko obviously told you that this is a completely different experience for your mother and myself, we treated you in a way that we thought would help you grow to be an independent young man, I felt that we had achieved that but I was blind to your concerns and feelings and I am truly sorry." Kenshin said, the kindness had returned to his voice and his eyes once again a full soft violet. Kenji smiled and nodded.

"Now, you should apologise to your mother." He said Kenji nodded again and ran to the kitchen, Kenshin smiled as he followed. When he reached the kitchen his smile widened as he saw mother and son in a tender embrace. Yahiko had moved out of the way and stood next to Kenshin.

"So, parenting huh." He said with a mocking tone.

"Indeed, you will learn of it too, in time Yahiko."

"Haha, I guess you're right." Yahiko said with a grin. "Now onto the reason why I came here in the first place" He continued and gave Kenshin a determined look. Kenshin just looked at him with a confused expression.

"Me and Tsubame are going to get married!" He shouted enthusiastically.

"Oro?"

_**Well I hope you enjoyed it, It's been a while since I've done a normal Fanfic instead of a crossover, and It is just a oneshot of something that just popped in my head, so yeah. I might do more oneshots but can't guarantee anything lol. Please leave reviews **___

_**~Killing reality**_


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